


he's too happy to be blue but thats just his color.

by Donrex



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Artist!Keith, I almost forgot, Latino!Lance, M/M, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Pining Keith (Voltron), Surfer!Lance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, also shiro and keith are brothers, and its really ooc, anxious!keith, but its pure fluff i swear, its kind of a mess im so sorry, shiro has a list of anyone from atla that has the same personality as people he knows, they drink at some part but theyre all grown-ups dont worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 20:40:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7860313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donrex/pseuds/Donrex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith wasn’t a fan of going outside.</p><p>Okay, that was an understatement.  Keith hated leaving his house. Why would he? He had air-conditioner, a computer and no responsibilities. There was no reason for Keith to leave his sweet sweet home.</p><p>Shiro, his adopting brother, had other plans.</p><p> </p><p>(or an entire fanfic about keith who really wants to draw lance but is too anxious to actually do something about it)</p>
            </blockquote>





	he's too happy to be blue but thats just his color.

**Author's Note:**

> im so sorry this is my first fanfic and im a mess ill probably edit it later

Keith wasn’t a fan of going outside.

Okay, that was an understatement.  Keith hated leaving his house. Why would he? He had air-conditioner, a computer and no responsibilities. There was no reason for Keith to leave his sweet sweet home.

Shiro, his adopting brother, had other plans.

"It's summer keiiith!" he says, starching the syllable, "matt has a shift in the ice cream shop near the beach, and you didn’t leave the house ever since the vacation started!"

"So what?" Keith protested.

"Well it's been a month and a half and you haven’t seen day light once! Come on! You can work on your drawings there. I know you want to work on moving models and anatomy and stuff."

Keith considered for a moment before nodding, shiro lifts a hand in the air in a victory gesture.

"Gimme 5 minutes" he said and goes changing out of his pjs and grabbing his sketchbook. When he's done, he goes outside to find Shiro, who is already in his big black old track that is waiting in the driveway.

 

Keith has no problem with Shiro's track. It’s a great track. And Shiro loves it. But, like, really loves it. He named it 'blackie'.

"That’s a cat's name." Keith told him when he announced its name for the first time.

Shiro didn’t even blink before shooting "you sure know about cat's names, keith. You ARE the one who named dr. snuggly paws after all." (their family cat. he's still living with their parents in their old house)

The battle was already lost. "Oh my god Shiro I was 8."

Keith didn’t even bother after that.

So anyway they were near the beach, Shiro was parking up and the ice cream shop was just the other side of the road.

"Excited to see your booyfrieeend?" Keith teased. He could feel Shiro stepping on the brix a little too hard. "We're childhood friends Keith," he shuttered, "please don’t make it weird."

Keith chuckled as he got out of the car. They crossed the street and entered the shop.

Shiro smiled as soon as they were in. he set at the counter right in front of matt but waited patiently for matt to be finished with the other costumers.

Next to matt was pidge. They were Keith's forced childhood friend. As mentioned before matt and Shiro were childhood friends, and as it is when both have little siblings, it was inevitable that Keith and pidge (that was called Katie back then) would see each other often.

It may sound as if Keith and pidge weren’t actually friends, but at that time, Keith was just a little child with a new family, and he did his best to be friends with pidge. The problem was, pidge was a smart kid. Keith was so confused around them, it made him feel dumb.

They did stay in touch, though. Mainly because they were both introverts and didn’t feel like finding new friends. Or because their brothers were friends. Maybe even because they got used to each other. Who knows.

As they grow up, they became more and more aware of each other's interests and figured their friendship around it. They would follow their big brothers to each other's houses and would sit together in whoever room it was, completely silent. Pidge would mess with Keith's computer or their own, while Keith would be sitting on the bed and drawing whatever he felt like. It was nice.

The tradition died down when they entered college. Keith took art classes while Pidge took technology and engineering (where they met Hunk) and since then they didn’t spare each other more than a nod in the halls. It was okay, too.

So Pidge was there. And they were talking to Hunk. Keith raised his hand in a gesture of 'hello' and got a smile and a nod from Pidge in return. Then they turned back to hunk and told him something excitedly. It was probably about Keith as a little after he turned around and offered Keith a friendly smile. It was genuine smile so Keith returned it even if it was somewhat embarrassing. He clapped he hand on Shiro's shoulder and said quietly "I'm going to the beach. I didn’t take my phone so just come and find me when you're done." Shiro nods, and Keith leaves.

 

He went to the beach. He borrowed a parasol and a chair and wandered around for an hour to find a place to sit that has people he could use as models but aren’t too loud so he could focus. its exhausting but when he gets to the part where he can actually open the sketchbook he feels like it all paid off.

First he drew some old guy starching up. And then a child building a sand castle. And then a baby in an inflatable pool. Then a life guard warning a lady. They're all unfinished and sketchy, but Keith loves the way they turned out. He's about to get up and walk over to the sports devices, where he'll definitely get more actioned poses, when a guy with a surfboard and a surf suit crosses next to his chair.

He didn’t even got to see his face, but keith hands were already on the page, drawing _. Oh yes,_ Keith thinks _, a surfer. His moves are definitely gonna be dynamic. AND he is wearing a surf suit, which is great for anatomy study._

He barely finished the sketch when the surfer gets to the water, (he may or may not wasted a little too much time on his back muscles but can you blame him?) but he quickly started a new sketch when the guy start swimming off farther into the sea on his surfboard.

He wasn’t taken aback when he doesn’t finish that sketch either since the guy would have to do that again if he'll want to catch another wave later. But then he stood up on his surfboard and Keith suddenly found it hard to _BREATH_.

He wasted precious minutes of drawing by staring the surfer as he slides on the waves. He never saw something as graceful and beautiful as this, and he didn’t even notice when did his hand start moving but now the guy is already near the shore and keith doesn’t have more than the pose. It's not supposed to make him so upset. He knows that moving objects are hard to draw and you can never expect a masterpiece but for some reason he really wanted this drawing to look better.

and when the surfer is set on his surfboard, clearly happy, and combed his hair with his fingers to fix it. Keith's only thought was _holy shit don’t move a millimeter_ but he couldnt actually yell that so he bits his lip and draws as fast as he can, looking up and down between the surfer and the page and draws his current pose. Only after finishing the sketch a thought occurred to him. _Wait a minute._ He looked up at the surfer. Both his hands were now on the surfboard, and his face was looking directly in Keith direction. No, it's more than that. Keith could've sworn he is looking right at HIM.

His head drops to his sketchbook and his cheeks burn red. _He caught me. Oh my god burry me._ Is playing over and over in his head. When he builded up enough courage to look up again the surfer is farther away from before but he's still looking at him, And he's pretty far away but Keith is 100% sure he is smirking. _Asshole._

The surfer turned around then and swim off a little more before turning around again as if to make sure Keith was still watching. Than he stands up and catch an even bigger wave then before.  Although keith was still embarrassed and has started to think the guy's a real show off, he could not pass such an opportunity. Without thinking he turned to a new page and drew whatever he can catch. That time he had even added details to the suit and even draws his hair. He still couldn’t draw his face since it was so far away but he did try and catch the wave behind him. When the wave gets weaker and the surfer gets to the beach, Keith is already thinking of ways to color the sketch. It turned out so nice and he would like to paint the color of the sea down. And the color of the surfer's skin. It's tan but obviously not only tan. He was born with this dark skin that makes the tan look even deeper. Keith wonders how many colors he'll need to mix to get it right.

He was so deep in thought he almost miss the surfer getting out of the water. When he DID notice the guy was already pretty close, and Keith's heart races and the only thing he can think about is _run, run!_

So that’s what he did.

He closed the sketchbook shut and gets up as fast as he can, then he turned around and ran away, not daring to look back. He kept running until the sand has turned into a solid ground, and his pulse slowed down. When he looks back, the surfer isn't in sight.

He huffs and then starts walking towards the ice cream shop.

 

"Found your dream model?" Shiro teased as keith walks through the door and grab his sleeve.

"Let's go home, Shiro."  Keith didnt bother sitting next to him but tugs the end of Shiro's sleeve like a 5 year old. "umm," Shiro looked at matt and then at keith. "Allura is just about to change shifts with pidge in a few minutes. I wanted to say hello." He said, licking his strawberry ice cream. "yeah, keith, why don’t you sit down? I'll give you an ice cream." Matt smiled.

"no thanks."

"Oh come on lil broo… let's just wait for Allura… 3 minutes tops." Shiro gave Keith a pout and keith grinned. "if we aren’t leaving right now I am telling matt about your huge c-" keith never finished that sentence because Shiro's hand is covered his mouth, preventing him from completing whatever he was about to say. That perked Matt's attention, though. "Shiro's huge what?" he asked with a smile that he shares with pidge sometime. It's terrifying. "Nothing! Look keith is right we need to go back now… thanks for the ice cream!" and then they were out of the door and keith cannot hold himself from laughing.

"you are such a little shit" Shiro tells him as he unlocks the car. Keith jumps right in and shuts the door behind as Shiro handed him his ice cream so he could start the engine. He eyed the beach suspiciously and unconsciously gripped tighter onto his sketchbook, as if someone would show up and snitch it from under him. He doesn't feel safe until Shiro starts driving and they leave the beach far far behind.

The drive is unusually quiet. Normally they would be bickering and chatting, but right now each one was in his own mind.

Keith wanted to look at his sketch. He wanted to open his sketchbook and make sure it was still there. That it was just as good as he remember it was when he finished it. but opening the sketchbook can catch Shiro's attention, which could lead to questions. So he just held it tighter, hands practically shaking from his need to use them.

When they got home he barely managed to take off his shoes without falling before running off to his room and shutting the door behind him.

He opened the sketchbook on the last used page and a sigh left his throat as he stared at the page.

It was clearly one of the prettiest things keith has ever drawn. The prettiest, if you'd ask him. And even though it was merely a sketch and the figure didn’t even had a face, Keith loved it.

He slammed the sketchbook on his desk as he took out his watercolors and brushes. He already had a glass full of water prepared, always in one second notice if inspiration hits.

He sat in his chair and closed his eyes, imagining the beach. The color of the wave. The surfer's deep skin color and dark blue surfer suit. And then he started painting.

He started with the wave. First a light blue, then he added a green, to create a turquoise. Then he applied a little blue to the sky, leaving between the sky and the sea a line for the foam. then he added blue with so much water it was barely seeable, making light clouds.

He waited for everything to dry, then added another layer. And another. Until everything shine like he was looking at the sea itself. The water sparkeled and the clouds were fluffy and shaded with yellow. He looked at it a bit before smiling, then moving to the hard part.

The surfer.

He was right. The guy's skin color was extremely hard to catch. it took him a few solid minutes to get a color he was happy with. Another problem was his face. Or more precisely, his lack of one. Should he cover over it with color? Should he leave it blank? He started with the surfboard instead, clearly avoiding the problem. He build his way up slowly, leaving highlights for later. Most of his skin was covered, and Keith felt slightly helpless going over the guy's muscles again with a dark blue for his suit.

Everything was finished, but the face was still blank. Keith sighed and then started yawning.

 _oh no, what time is it?_ keith yawned again while reaching out for his phone.

it was 3am, according to what the bright screen said.

 _Come on, not again._ He got up and stretched his hands, which were suddenly souring. It was the middle of the night, and Keith was still with his clothes. He was extremely hungry, too.

 _Nope, not the time right now._ He got off his chair and took down his shirt and pants, leaving him with boxers. _When in doubt, sleep._ He could do everything tomorrow. Technically today. But later. He'll do it later.

And then his head is on the pillow and his last thought is _I wish I could draw his face. I wish I could SEE his face. Really close. For drawing references, of course. totally professional._ And then he's already asleep.

 

And then he's awake. Because someone turned the light on. It was Shiro. Keith groans and covers his eyes with his hands. It takes him about 5 minutes before he can take his hand off his face and look around.

It's probably day already, because Shiro is fully clothed and his eyeliner is on point (Keith knows him long enough to recognize he was trying to impress someone.) but keith just frashly awake brain takes a moment to process what Shiro was doing. He was looking at something. On his desk.

The drawing.

 _Nononononoooo_ keith jumped out of his bed and is next to Shiro in seconds, shuts the sketchbook as fast as he can, picks it up and holds it against his chest protectively. He can already hear Shiro's teasing 'so you did find yourself quite the model now didn’t you?' but to his surprise Shiro didn’t say a thing for a moment. Instead of asking about the drawing or the fact that keith is blushing like crazy he asks instead "do you know a guy named lance?"

He said it so casually keith doesn’t know how to answer. "I don’t… know? I don’t think I heard that name before. Who is lance?" Shiro's smile was so wide keith feels like he fell right into a trap, but instead of the blackmailing information Shiro really clearly has, he just says, "come to the beach with me again today. Allura has a shift and I need to talk to her."

Keith clenches the sketchbook like it may run away. "Phones are a thing that exists, you know." but his voice was weak. Even after his embarrassing runaway yesterday he really did want to get back to the beach. He wanted to draw like every second matters. He wanted to draw with the sound of the waves hitting the shore. He wanted to see that amazing surfer, and the way he flies on the water. (The way his hair got stuck to his face after it gets wet. The way he pushed it away.)

Shiro only smiled knowingly. "Our conversation is a face to face matter only. Come on, get in the shower you stinky hoe. We're leaving in 30." He smiled and raffled Keith's hair. Then he proceeds to leave keith alone.

Keith knew it’s a lost battle. Was it against Shiro or himself? He wasn’t sure. But he really wanted to go. And he never won against Shiro. So he sighed and laid his sketchbook down, brushing it lightly. It was worn out and barely closed anymore because of the crumpled pages. Keith loved it. it was comforting, in a way. This sketchbook wasn’t a blank cover and blank pages like it was when it was bought. It was filled, slowly but steadily, with Keith. His feelings and designs and things he liked and things he wanted to get better at. It wasn’t just Keith's sketchbook. It was Keith himself. It was as if he was, quite literally, an open book.

And he can't have anyone looking at it. Not even Shiro.

he ended up going and taking a shower. And he'd dressed up and he takes his sketchbook and his pencil when he leaves his room towards the living room where Shiro is sitting with 2 bowls of cornflakes. One of them is half empty while the other was left untouched. Avatar is played on the tv and Shiro pats the seat next to him on the couch but his eyes are glued to the screen.

"what season?" keith askes as he sits down and grabs the full bowl.

"2" Shiro doesn’t even spear a look his way.

"I like 3 better. Zuko's haircut is so much hotter." Keith says as he crunches on his cornflakes.

"Dude, that’s gross. You're his real life doppelganger. You can't say weird shit about yourself on tv." That’s a long going argument. Shiro has a list (it’s a long list) of things both Keith and Zuko do. Keith wished he could get a break. (Shiro says that’s something they both have in common as well.)

"Anyway, you shouldn’t care about what season were watching. You have a crush on sokka. Sokka is always the same."

"I beg to differ. Season 3 makes him look more grown up and smart. And why wouldn’t I love sokka? He's everything you want in a guy. Except he's straight. But that’s another thing."

Shiro does his best to swallow his cornflakes and all the milk without chocking. He fails. His laugh is so loud Keith can't help but start laughing, too. "Shut up" Keith says as he tries to hold himself from laughing any harder. "If there was an actual sokka somewhere out there I won't have to be so lonely." That makes Shiro laugh even harder. Which makes Keith laugh even louder, too. _This is ridiculous._

"Well maybe there is," Shiro says after wiping tears off his eyes.

"Yes yes, I'm sure there are real life versions to anyone in avatar. I'm a very big believer of soul cycle." Keith says sarcastically and takes his and Shiro's empty bowls to the sink.

When he's back in the living room Shiro is already holding the keys of his car. Keith grabs his sketchbook and follows.

"try me." Shiro says.

"katara"

"allura."

"toph"

"pidge"

"pidge?"

"she was the first to metal bend. She's smart. And she looks small and helpless but will kick yo ass."

"acceptable. Princess yua"

"allura."

"you already said Allura!"

By the time they got to the beach, they covered pretty much everyone. Everyone, except from Sokka. Shiro insists that he cannot answer that question without the presence of a lawyer. Keith drops the subject, because they have been spitting complete bullshit for the whole drive, and now everything he can think about is drawing allura as a water bender.

 

"Keith! You came as well! I haven’t seen you all summer!" Allura calls as they walk into the shop. "hey Allura, isn’t keith just like zuko but without a scar?" Shiro sits at the same place he did yesterday. She doesn’t look surprised (probably because Shiro says a lot of shit without context and you just get used to it the more you're around him) but she does consider this a little too seriously before saying "I never saw it before but I can totally see that now." Keith groans and sits next to Shiro. Today just Allura is there, but since it’s the Holts shop pidge or matt are probably around. Keith feels a little eager about drawing the surfer guy again, but he knows that if he'll be on the beach when he just shows up, he would have to run away again. So instead he sat down and opened his sketchbook on a new page, and tried to remember what does water tribe clothes looks like, so he could draw Allura in them.

Everyone knew about Keith's love for art. By everyone, Keith means all of Shiro's friends that had ears and were next to Shiro for more than 6 minutes. "Oh and did you know? My lil bro is an artist. He's AMAZING. You should see it." it was extremely embarrassing and Keith wished he would stop, but that’s just who Shiro was. 

On the upper side, Keith didn’t have to hide his drawings. All of Shiro's friends were more than happy to pose for him and didn’t mind when he wasn’t looking at then but at a page while they were talking to him.

When keith was done with Allura, he gets up and told Shiro he's going to beach. Shiro smiled knowingly and told him he would come pick him up later.

Keith was not going to go through the whole 'chair-and-parasol-around-the-beach-to-find-a-spot' so he simply walked around the beach, sketchbook in hand and pencil at the other, and searched for something drawing worthy. He was keeping an eye on the sea for surfers, but also on the beach so no one would sneak up on him.

And then he founds himself exactly where he was yesterday. His parasol and chair were still there, abounded from his escape. Oops? Well… the surfer is there, too. But he hasn’t noticed keith yet. Keith knows that sitting on the chair would give him away, but he still wants to watch the guy surfs. So he sits down a little farther back from the shore, and opens on his now colored page.

He comperes his coloring to reality, a little sad that he ended up getting the guy's skin extremely wrong, but he can't change anything, and that’s alright.

He's making sure the surfer doesn’t notice him this time, and then goes back to drawing. He wished he could learn more about that guy. His name, at least. How does his face looks like up close. Then he shuts the thoughts down, a little hot in the face. _I run away when I had the chance. I wouldn’t want to talk to me after that._ And the worst part? He would probably do it again.

 _Talking to other people is overrated_. He chants to himself while drawing roses in the corners of the page. It helps him settle down. _I don’t need to talk to anyone if I don’t want to. It's alright._ Soon enough he fills the page with gray roses. In the middle there's a small sketch of the surfer. When he realizes what he's done he flushes up. He looks up as an instinct, to make sure nobody is looking, and then he sees him. That goddamn surfer. Looking right at him. from his surfboard. Keith blush darkens. To that guy's defense, when he sees keith looking up at him he hurries to look away. He turns around on his surfboard and swims far into the sea.

Keith can't look away now, when he knows there's going to be another wave, another chance to see him surf. He shuts his sketchbook, deciding to just watch and enjoy the view.

Then a great wave comes, and Keith saw him do it a few times but still feel his breath been taken away.

Keith isn’t very poetic. This isn’t his field of work, but right now, he wishes he could describe the way he surfs. He wishes he had the words to make justice with something so beautiful. But he can't. He can only draw. And just because of that thought he can feel his hands tremble in need to hold a pencil on a page. He never had someone which made him feel like that before. Of course he had inspirations in his life. Moments so pretty they had to be preserved. But this wasn’t the moment. It was the person. It was the way he moves. The way the water around him seems to glow. And keith wasn’t sure how to take it.

So he gets up, and walks away.

Again.

Ugh he's such an idiot.

He knows he can't pull the same trick twice on Shiro so he just keeps walking around for a while, distracting himself from his worries with colors. What colors would he use for the sand? For the shadow? It calms him down, and he ends up sitting on a bench, far far away from the sea but the sand still under his feet.

And he does what he did yesterday. He draws a lady with a flowered dress, a boy holding an ice cream, two girls giggling as they pass his way.

"Hey Keith" Keith jumps in his place, heart rate accelerating and his sketchbook shut close. He doesn’t react to other people well. He needs to trust them before getting comfortable. Which is exactly why he never leaves the house unless he has to. _Ugh thanks nameless surfer. You're ruining my life_ Is a thought that is there but refused to be acknowledged.

"Whoa, okay, calm down. Its me. And hunk." It's Pidge. they sit down next to Keith, and hunk sits next to them. Keith nods, more to calm himself down then to answer Pidge back. He moves to the edge of the bench to give them more space, then nods to himself again and opens back on the page he was on. "soo… how are you?" pidge asks. They haven’t talked in a while, and they usually don’t talk much anyway, so Keith knows pidge has something to say. He doesn’t push it, though, because whatever pidge wants (always), it's not good. So he enjoys the calm before the storm and just focuses on his hands as he works.

"so did you meet lance yet?" pidge says bluntly, probably knowing from their history with keith that it’s the best way to approach him. _Lance again. Who is that guy?_ He shakes his head in a no without looking up.

"ah, that’s a shame. He's our friend, hunk's and mine. I was sure I introduced you before." But from their tone it was clear that they knew they didn’t.

Keith hums, wondering if hunk would mind if he drew him, even though he knows he would never have enough courage to ask.

"I have to get you two to talk. He's a great guy. He also has a huge ego and would love it if you drew him, so it'll work out." He didn’t really know how to answer that. Whoever Lance is, people sure want them to meet. He nods again and a blush creeps to his ears. "Sounds… great. Please let me know when you are going to induce us. I hate surprises." "sure" pidge says and then gets up. He looks up to them and finds hunk smiling to him. "Bye keith, nice to talk to you. Kinda. I wish you'd draw me too sometime." Hunks waves and walks away after pidge.

 _Well at least I got one thing out of this._ Keith thinks as he gets up as well. He still got some time to burn, and his legs draws him back to his spot, so he sits down on the chair and looks at the sea.

The surfer is there. But he's far away.

Keith open the sketchbook but instead of drawing, he just looks at it. from everything he drew today, the surfer is his favorite. And it drives him MAD. What's so special about that guy? By looking up he finds the surfer near the shore again. he is looking right at keith(which makes keith heart race from a few reasons), and from his body language it looks like he's considering something. But instead he turns around and swims back again. Keith sigh in relief and opens on a new page, this time trying to draw only his face and hair from what he can see and remember. His hair is short and goes to funny directions, but maybe that’s because its wet. It's also dripping but Keith leaves that detail out. Sadly he just can't draw his face. No matter how he tries, when he tries to picture it, it's too blurry. So he leaves those drawing blank too.

Soon enough he can hear Shiro in the distance. He turns around and see Shiro not too far away. He closes his sketchbook and gets up from his chair when Shiro gets to his spot and is clapping a hand on his shoulder. "enjoying the view?" he can definitely hear the tease in Shiro's voice and blushes, knowing Shiro saw the drawing of the surfer in his sketchbook and can put one and one together. "shut up will you" he murmurs and cringes when Shiro laughs. He's turning around and is about to walk away but Shiro starts waving. To the surfer. _Oh my god don’t do that_ keith thinks miserbly. And then something weirder happens. The surfer waves back. Enthusiastically.

"Nope nope nope." He takes Shiro's hand and starts dragging him away. Shiro doesn’t resist.

Only when they get to the car Keith lets go. "is there anyone in this world that you don’t know?" he asks bitterly as Shiro unlocks the doors. Shiro laughs again and Keith groans.

 

the next day Shiro doesn’t even asks. He just smiles at keith like sharing a secret while he grabs the keys.

He hasn’t asked a single thing about the surfer to Shiro and he feels like going crazy. He knows asking Shiro is going to dug him a grave. A huge grave. And he just isn’t feeling up for such intense teasing yet. But there are so many things he wants to know, and he can feel himself on the edge.

On the drive Shiro is blubbing like his usual self, and keith is nodding but doesn’t give clear answers like his usual-but-usually-not-with-Shiro-self.

They walk into the ice cream shop and Allura and Matt are at the counter, while pidge hunk and another tall guy are sitting next to a small table. is that guy wearing a surfing suit under his clothes? Keith is walking in front of Shiro, which means he has no way of escape as he finally figures out who is the third guy with hunk and pidge.

_"so you know a guy named lance?" Shiro asked after looking at Keith's drawing._

_"so did you meet lance yet?" pidge asks, then proceed to "I have to get you two to talk"_

_How could I be so oblivious?_ Keith wants to bang his head against a wall. Lance is the surfer. And he has nowhere to run. He sends a dirty glare towards Shiro, who is looking completely innocent. They sit in Shiro's favorite spot but not before he can see the guy-lance's face brighten up when he notices him and Shiro. He turns his head to pidge just as Keith turns his head to matt and sits down. Matt is looking at him with a slightly guilty expression, while Allura is beaming at him. He feels tricked. He stares down to his sketchbook but doesn’t open it, waiting for the bomb to drop.

"Hi keith. so remember yesterday?" Keith could imagine an actual bomb explodes inside his head. for a moment he's playing around with the idea, taking a note to draw it later. He nods, slowly looking up. Pidge was tiny in compered to lance, which was very clear when lance was standing behind them, and also made it very hard to ignore him. But Keith did his best, looking at pidge and waiting for them to keep talking.

"so this is lance. He's learning engineering with me and hunk. He's also learning astronomy, like Shiro." Keith shot Shiro his most venomed glare, and then looks directly at lance. It was a little overwhelming. He felt his hand starting to tremble in need to put the features on the page, but instead he smiled and outreached his shaky hand for a handshake. _this is so awkward!_  His hand was still shaky and sweaty and he could feel himself blush because _I run away!_  This was making it even harder for him.

Lance didn’t noticed any of those (or more likely ignored them) and took his hand. It was really warm. Keith couldn’t look away from his face.  _I'm staring. I'm so obviously staring._ Keith thought. But he couldn’t HELP IT. Lances face was… fascinating _. God that sounds horrible, I'll try that again._ It was… breathtaking. _Yes that’s more like it_. His eyes shines and he had this smile… Keith was so happy he didn’t try to draw his face because he felt like he would NEVER make justice with it. Not without a reference and days of practice.

"Hey," Lance said. _God his voice is adorable._ "I feel like I've seen you before." Aaand the moment's gone. Keith pulls his hand back and looks down. He is definitely mocking him. "was that your version of 'do you come here a lot?' because it needs some work." He says, but sadly it doesn’t sound like he's teasing. _Oh god this is why I ran away i don’t want to have this conversation._

But lance LUAGHS. "Oh man, it probably is. You caught me there" is that a flirtation? Oh god it was. And the fact that everyone were around them only made it worse. Keith didn’t answer. He knew lance was getting a little uncomfortable but _what do I say?!_ After an amount of time that seamed way too long Shiro barged in. "lance is a great surfer." He says. _Shiro NO._ Screamed every cell in his body and he got red all over again. "I know that." He murmured. Lance's face was practically shining. "Yeah! I love surfing! Will you come and watch me again?" Keith could feel everyone looking him. He wasn’t sure he could get redder then that. "Maybe l-later." He wasn’t even sure if lance heard him. "Great! Let's all do something together." He said to everyone around and they all nodded in approval. Then he looked at Keith one more time and pointed his fingers in a gun gesture towards hunk and pidge while walking out.

Keith drops his head between his hands on his sketchbook that is lying on the counter and groans. "I want to go home." He murmurs. Shiro claps a hand on his shoulder but before he can say anything keith shushes him up. "shut up." He says from between his hands, "all of you. I don’t want to hear a thing" he is still blushing hard, and he would rather be anywhere that isn’t here right now. Somewhere quiet. And dark. Where there weren’t 5 people looking at him. His room, for example. A coffin would be great, too.

"You weren’t THAT bad," Shiro tries to cheer him up. I wasnt working.

"I said shut up." Keith still can't look up.

But Keith does show up. It takes him a while to calm down, yes, and he still can't look anyone in the eye, but at some point he just needed to get out of there, and at this point, he's a little scared of what would happened if he won't show up. He doesn’t want to let lance down.

He sits down on his chair and tries drawing lances face out of his memory. It takes a few times but still looks nothing like the real thing and Keith sighs in defeat.

Lance notices him and waves happily, which keith returns with an awkward wave of his own.

He tries to draw his idea from earlier, the one of the bomb inside his brain, and then he hears a voice. "Hey, keith was it?" lance is yelling. He is out of the water, but still pretty far away from Keith. He can't run away this time, so he just nods and close his sketchbook as lance is getting closer.

"Great, cause you didn’t say it officially but pidge mentioned it so I assumed. I hope it's alright." He sits down next to Keith. Keith nodes again and then mentally hits himself for it with a _use your fricking mouth_.

But apparently he doesn’t have to. As it turns out, lance really likes to talk. And he doesn’t care that Keith barely answer as long as he's actually listening.

And Keith doesn’t mind listening because lance is REALLY enthusiastic about the things he talks about. It's hard not to get sucked into the story, whether it was about surfing, something that happened in college, his family. You name it.  

 

And before he notices, it becomes a little like a routine. Keith comes to the sea with Shiro every day, and goes to his usual spot to watch lance. he always shuts his sketchbook when lance comes out of the water and sits next to him, never daring to use it when he's too close, as much as he'd want to.

"Will you show me what you're using that book for?" lance askes one day. It's been a while, and Keith is a little more comfortable around him, even if not comfortable enough.

He instinctively clutches his sketchbook harder and shakes his head as fast as he can. Then he stops, a little ashamed, and says "no. I'm sorry. Its my sketchbook. I draw in it. Its… kind of personal..." His cheeks get a little hot. _And I drew you there way too many times_. He completes in his head.

"Oh," says lance. It's hard to tell what he's thinking. "No prob, man! So you draw? Are you good?" he says with a smile, trying to open Keith up.

"I'd like to think I'm good. I'm sorry. I just really don’t show this to anyone." Keith hopes lance wasn’t hurt. "I said its cool, dude. I hope I'll get to see something you made sometime." He smirked. Keith smile was much smaller, but it sure was there. "Yeah," He said, "Sometime."

Lance was talking about Shiro a lot, too. About things he did that made him a living legend in astronomy class.

"What's your relation to Shiro, anyway?" he asked one time. "We're brothers. His family adopted me when I was little. We live together near campus now." Lance looks relived. "That’s so cool! You're Shiro's brother! I was scared that you and him are... you know… because you don’t look alike…" lance was blushing a little. "me and Shiro are what?" keith asked, confused. Lance robbed the back of his neck when he said awkwardly "well… I thought you were… dating… ya'know? Because you always get here in the same car and you're really close and stuff." He doesn’t think anyone has ever confused him and Shiro as boyfriends before. It was ridiculous. Why would lance care, anyway? He looked at lance looking at the sea, and tried to save it in his brain for later while thinking of an explanation. Sadly, he could only think of one conclusion.

Lance likes Shiro. He has to. Zero other explanation available. He already knew lance liked to flirt. He was flirting with everything that moved. Hack, the first time they talked he pulled that horrible pick up line on him. But the way he was talking about Shiro… keith felt horrible knowing Shiro would never actually return lances crush back.

_That lance would never return my crush back._

 

It was the last day before summer was ending and Shiro invited everyone to their house. EVERYONE.

"Why can't you ask me before?" Keith says, panic in his voice. "What if someone goes in my room? What if I want to go to sleep? I'll look weird. And dumb. You even invited lance and hunk! Why? They're not your friends, they're Pidge's! I never even met lance before this summer. Why are you suddenly inviting him?!" Shiro looks worried. He puts both his hands on Keith's shoulders, making him look right at him. "Take deep breaths. It's okay Keith, its only 5 people. And everyone knows you already. No one is judging you. I'm sorry I didn’t tell you before. Just breathe. I promise there is going to be no loud music, and if anything is stressing you just tell me. I wont let you do anything you're uncomfortable with, alright? I promise."

His hand doesn’t leave Keith's shoulders until his breath is slowing down and he nods. "Good. I promise I won't let anyone in your room, either." Keith nods again but can't drown his fears completely.

Shiro kept his promises. There was no music, and anyone who came helloed Keith before sitting down. Allura was first. She was never late. Right after her matt and pidge showed up. Then hunk. Lance showed up last, not dressed in a surf suit and looking really really good. Which was a thing Keith was beating himself for thinking. _He likes Shiro_. He reminded himself as lance gave up on a handshake or a fist and pulled Shiro to a hug. "Thanks for inviting me, Shiro!" he was so goddamn happy. _Yeah, thanks._ Keith thought bitterly. Lance didn’t hug Keith. He just sent him one of his blinding smiles, the ones keith feels that are slightly more wide just for him, and Keith knows he shouldn’t base his feelings over someone's smile alone when he hugged someone else a minute ago, but god that smile was pretty.

 

And then everyone brought out the drinks they bought, and started drinking.

Keith wasn’t a heavy drinker. He only drinks a can. Two at most. He would never drink so much that he would lose control and do or say something regrettable.

Lance, as it turns out, is the exact opposite of Keith.

Allura was telling a story about her uncle Coran, (she moved to live with him when her father died) but keith wasn’t really listening because he was worried about lance. _was that his fourth beer?_

As it turns out, lance had a very clear stages while drinking. Keith eyes followed him all night, and that’s what he found out:

On his second beer, lance would become a little louder than before. He would laugh way too much and talk even louder then his usual self. Allura was telling a story, and everytime a punch-line came lance needed a few minutes to calm down.

On his fourth beer, he would get up to get everyone's attention, and then tell the most hilarious stories he could think of.

"So there I was, that girl I'm hitting on next to me, when the guy I was supposed to be on a date with finally shows up and I think he thought I was a girl? So when he found out I was a boy, who was hitting on a girl, he kinda freaked out. And then HE broke up with ME! Who would've thought, right?" I But it didn’t end there.

On his sixth beer he started flirting. He flirted with everyone who moved.

"Hi Allura?" "Yes lance? "Have you ever been to heaven?" "I'm not sure this is how this line goes lance," "because you were blessed by god." "Dear lord."

"Hunk? Hunk I lost my phone. Give me your number so I can call it" "lance you already have my number we text each other all the time"

"matt we don’t know each other much. But you look like pidge but less scary. And you're older that’s always a plus" "that was your worst one yet lance." "shut up pidge I'm hitting on your brother"

Between his six and eighth beer, he was slipping into Spanish.

"Si te digo que tienes un cuerpo precioso,¿me lo restregaràs por la cara?" (If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?) lance was flirting with Shiro. (Which means the only one who hasn’t been flirted with in the whole room was Keith. He wished he would've found this less irritating.) And then lance started laughing like crazy. "It was a pun wasn’t it" Shiro sighed and rejected lance gently, like everyone else. (Except for Keith) (Because he wasn’t flirted with, not because the stupid pick-up lines would work on him.)

But then lance took a few fast sips from his can, _like he needs to be more drank then he already is,_ Keith thought. But he probably was, since he took a deep breath before looking right at Keith. Half of the cells in his body were screaming _oh no_ , when the other screamed _finally_ , and Keith suspected that maybe he was more drank than usual.

Lance sat down next to keith, MUCH closer than they do when they sit together on the beach. Than he looked him right in the eyes and said " Eres más guapo que las estrellas en el cielo" (You are more beautiful than the stars in the sky.) Keith was dazzled.  _what the fuck did he even say?_ But he doubted asking would do any good, so he just looked down awkwardly, defiantly blushing, and messed with the hum of his shirt (he wasn’t used to not having his sketchbook in his hands), murmuring an "umm… thanks?" in a small voice. Lance made a sound that sounded like a cheer and laid his head on Keith's shoulder, making his heart so wild. _I wish I knew Spanish_.

The rest of the night lance was next to him. Drinking beer and whispering Keith pick-up lines he didn’t understood.

And then, on his something like eleventh beer, (Keith lost count) Lance was knocked out.

"Shiro, I think lance just fell asleep on me. Or passed out. Or died." Keith hoped his voice was loud enough to reach Shiro, because there was no way he was saying that sentence again without getting a heart attack. Luckily Shiro was used to his quiet voice since he got near them and looked at the situation. "Hmm… I guess that means he's staying over? I know you don’t like people in your room, so you can put him in mine? I'll sleep on the couch." Keith wanted not to feel so sick from the proposal. "NO! I mean, no, you can't sleep on the couch. I'll go drop him in my room. He's asleep so it'll be okay, I guess?" Shiro nodded and helped Keith stand up, lance being held in his arms. "Okay then," Keith whispers and walks to his room, trying not to drop lance. Behind him he could hear Shiro telling everyone that it's late and that they all need some sleep. 

and then it was just them. And lance.

He finally opens the door and drops lance on his bad when a new problem occurs to him. Where is HE going to sleep? He doesn’t want to sleep on the couch, it's small and uncomfortable. And he doesn’t want lance to wake up alone in his room. _What if he'll touch my stuff?_ Keith can't have that.

So he sighs in defeat, covering lance under his blanket but not getting into bed himself yet.

Instead he quietly moves his chair in front of the bed, and grabs his sketchbook. _I just want one good drawing of his face,_ he excused to himself. _I'm not a stalker, I swear I'm not._

But he still feels weird drawing Lance sleeping. The drawing is much better then all his past attempts, now that he has a reference, but all he can think about is _I wish I could ask him if it's alright. Then I could just draw him all the time._ But he won't ask. Not in the near future. He just can't. It's too embarrassing. Didn’t stop him from thinking what it would be like, though.

 

They both woke up suddenly, to the sound of an alarm going off. Keith jumped from the chair he had spent the night on, (Oops,) dropping his sketchbook to the floor, while lance was murmuring a soft "what the fuck" in a sleepy voice, proceeding to take his phone out of his pocket (that was the source of the noise) and turning it off. For a moment they were both dead silent, staring into each other's eyes, until lance broke it off and looked around him.

There was a reason Keith doesn’t like people in his room. The look on lance's face was a great example. "Where are we? Is this… your room?" lance wouldn’t stop looking around, and Keith was more than embarrassed. "umm… yeah…" he said after a while, bending down and picking his sketchbook up from the floor.

What is the best way to describe Keith's room? Well, Keith's room was like Keith's personality. His hidden-from-everyone-who-didn’t-knew-him-well-enough personality. It was messy. And passionate. It was everything Keith didn’t show anyone else. A bigger 3D version of his sketchbook, if you will.

And lance was sitting in the middle of it, looking around like he's inside a treasure chest.

Keith coughed, making lance look back at him. "you… fell asleep last night…" he tailed off. Lance looked confused. "last night? Man I barely remember anything. Did I do something weird? How weird would you rate my behavior from 1 to 10? 1 being 'you said a lot of bullshit' and 10 being 'you tried to kiss someone and they rejected you?'" Keith figured the last part was pointed to Shiro. He thought about it for a moment, and then said "about 6. You flirted with everyone in Spanish." Lance groaned, "Well I guess I had it worse. with the hangover, too" he rubbed the sides of his head and then stretched out of Keith's bed. "it’s a school day." He groaned tiredly. "didnt have those in a while," he gave keith a beautiful smile. keith hid his blush with a cough. "I think we have unused toothbrushes in the bathroom, so you can go brash you're teeth." Lance gave Keith another one of his stunning smiles, and then left the room to find the bathroom.

Keith regretted everything the moment lance left. _What the fuck. What the FUCK_.  _he saw my room! he slept in my bed! (i cant believe i missed that chance) he uses one of our new thoothbrushes. im a goner._  Keith looked around in his closet and pulled out clothes for himself. _He likes Shiro. He clearly likes Shiro and not you so stop thinking about it._ He was saying it over and over in his head all morning. they all got into Shiro's car and Keith sat in the driver sit and turned the engine on, clearly the only one without a hangover. _he likes Shiro he likes Shiro stop thinking he's cute._ fillied his head the whole drive.  _he doesnt like you._

Needless to say, Keith was a wreck on his first day back.

He'd like to say that everyone were, since 80% of the students were having a hangover, but Keith knew he was wrecked from a different reason.

When they got home Shiro told him that he and lance were looking for him during lunch, but their hours probably didn’t match. It only made Keith bitterer. _Now he hangs with Shiro even more. Great._

And so slowly they gave into that college routine. Keith and lance had lunch and free hours on the same time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and lance won't even hesitate sitting next to him in the cafeteria or outside in the park and filling him in on everything he had done that week. He would also walk him to the library sometimes, even though it's clear he isn’t a fan of the silence. All the attention almost made Keith feel important. Like lance wasn’t hanging with him because he's in love with his big brother. Almost.

And a month passed. Then two. Keith needed to go and buy himself a new sketchbook and some art materials for his class in general, so he dragged Shiro along.

"How's classes lil bro?" Shiro enquired as Keith inspected the many kinds of sketchbooks that were on the shelf. "It's cool. I think I want to work with Gouache more. How'r'yo'?" Keith started walking around, looking if he could find gouache in a different section. "its fine. So I was talking with matt the other day…" "Save it" Keith groaned. "Don’t wanna hear about your love life problems." Keith stopped walking to examine a jar of ink. "Well I DO want to hear about YOUR love life problems. How are you and lance?" the jar nearly slipped from Keith's grasp. "Shiro!" he scolded and placed the jar back down carefully. He could imagine Shiro wiggling his eyebrows behind him. "God you're so obvious. I'm right aren’t I?" Shiro started laughing when Keith smacked his arm, his face burning. "it doesn’t matter anyway." He mumbles as he starts walking again, finally finding some gouache and taking it with him to the counter. "Why not?" Shiro sounds confused. For some reason, it pissed Keith off. _Don’t steal my man without noticing!_ So he didn’t answered Shiro, but placed the things he wanted to buy in front of the girl who was on the other side of the counter and pulled out everything he got out of his pockets. _Ugh, art is expansive._

They left the shop and Keith could let himself believe he's out of the danger zone when Shiro asked again, "why doesn’t it matter?" "Because he likes- someone else, okay?" Keith couldn’t bring himself to tell Shiro all of it. Shiro looked even more confused, maybe even worried. "How do you know that?" he asked with no tease in his voice. "I just, do. Okay?" Keith sighed and then the conversation was over, because Keith wasn’t sure if he can keep talking about it anymore.

 

It was around mid-terms and Keith's art class was asked to draw a "person from your life, painted in colors that matched them in your taste. you can use other colors to deepen the shadows, but it had to have 1 dominant color. For presentation." Said the teacher. "Don’t be late."

So now Keith was walking around the house, preparing his things. Shiro agreed to be his model, but Keith knew he was busy. Shiro had midterms, too. Of course he would be busy. Shiro was barely home those days, always in a study session with matt or Allura, sometime both. If not he was shut in his room, his nose stuck in a text book, or his notes, or someone else's notes. It wasn’t a surprise that Keith felt extremely guilty for asking him.

But when someone knocked on the door, and Keith opened with a speech for Shiro about forgetting his keys all around, he does not expect to find lance there. So it takes him a moment to process when lance gives him a beautiful smile and a small wave which makes he's heart ache and his face warm up. _You're not Shiro_ , Keith wants to say.

But instead he says, "Hi, lance. What are you… doing here?" now lance looks a little embarrassed. He runs his fingers through his hair and starts talking a little too fast, making it hard for Keith to follow. "Well you know Shiro's super busy and today in class he got all 'I have tones of work and I promised my brother ill model for him' and he maybe saw me looking at him cause he went 'oh lance! Can you do me a favor and model for Keith? You'll probably be even better than me" so I said 'of course I can!' and I'll probably look good anywhere so just being there would make your painting 1000% better and I'm talking nonsense oh my god why aren't you stopping me?" keith was still processing when he moved aside to let lance in.

His first thought was, _I will kill Shiro with my own two hands._

And the second was _lance probably really likes Shiro to do that for him when wer'e in the middle of midterms_.

But the main point was, _i_   _am_ _going to draw lance now. In front on lance. In lances full permission._  He can't say he wasn’t exited.

"Umm… you can just… sit there…" keith was the worst in telling people what to do, but lance seemed very happy to cooperate with everything keith would ask.

Lance set on the couch, directly behind Keith's easel, and waited for more commands. Keith set next to his easel, looking at lance and then grabbing a pencil and his new sketchbook. "Now just… don’t move, I guess. I'm gonna make a sketch" he held his sketchbook slightly higher, "and then I'll move to the easel. It's gonna take a while, so or we'll do everything right now, like tonight, or you'll have to come back every day for an hour or so." "Every day sounds great." Lance smile was completely sincere, which confused Keith. _He'll throw his schedule to model for me? What about all his tests?_ But he didn’t say a thing, only nodding and then starting to sketch.

He decided on a face close-up, and drew the base. It took him a while to stop feeling embarrassed and focus on his work, but after a while he just focused on a way to catch lances smile on the page rather than freaking out.

It did take him a while to get everything like he wanted. Lance probably noticed that, because his smile was turning into a frown. Keith stopped drawing. "do you need a break?" keith asked, scared that he did something wrong. "I need to ask you that. You looked a little sick." Keith looked at his drawing, then back at lance. "It's alright. I'll get us both some water." And then he got up and walked into the kitchen, leaving lance alone on the couch.

 _Don’t sweat the details, Keith._ He reminded himself. _It's just the sketch. You'll get it on the actual drawing. It'll be fine ._ he grabbed two caps of water and walked back to the living room.

He gave lance his cup of water. "I don’t want to take too much time from you." Keith said as he sat down back on his chair. "You have tests and everything." He added, glad that he had something in his hands so he wouldn’t have to look up. "It's cool, I learned all day till now, I can give you an hour everyday." It made Keith feel important. And then sad. _He's doing it for Shiro_. He reminded himself.

"okay then, I won't hold you longer today, but tomorrow we're starting the real thing. Brace yourself." Keith smiled and lance didn’t answer for a while. "Is there something on my face?" Keith said, touching his face that was now tented with blush. "What? Ah! No! I'm sorry, okay ill just come back tomorrow." lance got up and walked to the door. "Thank you for having me. At the same time like today, right? Great! Bye." and he was gone.

 

The next day was... nice.

Lance showed up at the same hour, then went to the same spot on the couch and set down.

"Dibújame cómo una de tus chicas francesas" (draw me like one of your French girls) he said with a devilish smile.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Keith asked and blushed as he pulled out his brush and colors. _Why does his voice sounds so good In Spanish?_ But lance just smiled and didn’t say a thing.

He chooses to draw lance in blue. It was the first color that popped in his head, and it suited lance really well, so he decided to go with it.

That day he drew the first layer. Basic shapes and colors.

It takes a while for the paint to dry, so Keith draws one layer every day, to make sure he won't waste too much of lance's time.

 

And that’s how it was. Lance would come every day and make some shitty pun in Spanish or something, (Keith wished he listened more in Spanish class.) then keith would draw a layer on his painting way slower than it actually supposed take him, then lance would say something that would make keith smile, (sometime even giggle) and then he would ran away, with a promise to come back tomorrow at the same time.

 

It was a day or two before the last submission date and Keith was still changing the mouth, clearly unsatisfied.

"I think it looks great." Shiro said before he ran to his room to grab a text book. "But it doesn’t looks like LANCE, so what's the point of it being GREAT?" keith called after him.

Lance said the same thing as Shiro when he arrived about half an hour later, but he, unlike shiro, was standing right next to Keith while they were both examining it closely. This time Keith didn’t answer.

"If I could only… capture it better," he says with a sigh after a few moments of silence. Lance looked at him and his expression could’ve been called amused if it wasn’t mixed with uncertainty, "you want to capture my lips better?" he had a tease in his voice and it took Keith a few seconds to understand what lance was trying to say. When he did, though, he burned red. "Not like- lance please. I meant. I just want to study the way…" lance was grinning, clearly enjoying how flustered Keith was, "shut up, okay? I just wish I could understand how to draw it better." Lance was grinning even harder. "Do you want me to help you understand my lips better?" _oh my god_. Keith didn’t answer that, which made the moment from tease to tense.

He looked back at the drawing, but lance placed his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Do you?" now he sounded a little sheepish and… hopeful? Keith stayed silent. Lances hand moved to Keith's cheek, which made him turn his face towards lance again.

Lance was really close now. "I'm going to take that as a yes?" he got closer and closer to Keith, his eyes flicking between Keith's eyes and lips. Keith still didn’t say a thing, but now his hand has placed itself on lances waist, and he leaned in himself.

Lances lips were very warm. He is also a lot better at it then keith, who had never kissed anyone before. This is also the reason why he pulls back first. His face is somehow redder than before and lance looks a little disappointed. "I…" Keith doesn’t know how to find his words and put them together in a way lance will understand. _Aren't you in love with Shiro? Why did you kissed me? Was that out of pity? Am I Shiro's_ replacement _? And I'm not even good. He probably thinks he made a mistake by not trying to kiss Shiro instead._ "I'm a terrible kisser. I'm so sorry," he can't look at lance but can't bring himself to let go of him, either. "did you just ruin the best moment in my life because you thought YOU did something wrong?" lance knocked his forehead against Keith's softly. Keith looked at lance, surprised. "well then," lance said in a sweet voice, "you know what is the key to get better at something?" he stole a kiss off Keith's lips. "Practicing!"

It's been a while. The painting long forgotten, at least for today. They both lay together on the couch, lance is playing with Keith's fingers and Keith takes a long look at lances lips. Funnily enough, now he thinks he really will be able to finish his painting. Like all he needed is a permission to look at lance's lips longer then he allowed himself to. "I was sure you were in love with Shiro" keith says awkwardly after awhile of comfortable silence. Lances eyes widen. "With shi- what the fuck? Why would you think that?" Keith got up from his lying position to sitting, and robbed the back of his neck. "Well, you talked about him a lot. And you said you came to help me because Shiro asked you to… I just assumed…" lance sat up after him and stared at him for a moment. "I'm not in love with Shiro!" he said in disbelieve. "I was talking about him because you were close, and I thought that would be more interesting to you then MY family. And obviously I came when he asked. To spend time with YOU. Are you kidding me? I admire him, yes, look up to him and all, but I like YOU. Ohmygod" lance puts his hand on his face and lays back down dramatically.

"Well I-I like y-you, too" he says quietly.

"What did you just say?" lance removed his hand from his face and his eyes were wide and excited,  his dark skin reddening a bit. (how much would keith pay to have a pencil and a paper, so he could draw that moment.) "Nothing!" Keith gets up from the couch and walks to the easel. "Come on, I have a project to finish."  

Lance ends up showing up on Keith's door even after he submits his work to the teacher, and keith ends up drawing lance's face and body all over his new sketchbook, in serval expressions and poses.

Keith gets an A+ on his work, and it ends up hanging from the wall in the college's gallery for everyone to see.

**Author's Note:**

> tell me if i got the spanish wrong i dont know spanish i hope its alright
> 
>  
> 
> i was also thinking of a second part from lances pov because he didnt get a single line for the first 5000 words of the story im so sorry lance.


End file.
